If I’m going to professionalize my approach to social media, as I’ve mentioned in a couple of recent posts, something I need to do is pick a tool I can use to schedule posts in the future. There are a lot of social media management tools out there. So, how do I pick the right one? Well, for starters, I need to identify what exactly I want out of a social media management tool.
Social Media Management Tool Requirements
- Any tool I use needs to work well with both Twitter and LinkedIn as those are the two platforms I plan to use.
- I want to be able to schedule at least a week of posts at a time, though being able to schedule posts a month out might be preferable. It’s hard to say, I can imagine myself never actually scheduling things more than a week out, but I’d like the option of being able to schedule things out further.
- I think I’d like something that supports two users. While I plan to do all management of posts at the beginning, I can imagine a scenario in the future where I hire a freelancer to keep an eye on these accounts for me and I’m not a fan of sharing logins, thus multiuser support is a must.
- Free is great, but I’m also willing to spend a little. However, at this point I’m not prepared to spend more than perhaps $20 a month until this who project proves itself.
A Look at the Candidates
G2 makes finding software easy. So when trying to find a social media management platform, I just looked at the 20 or so top rated social media management platforms according to G2. After ruling out those that either didn’t meet the requirements above or were too far above my gut sense for what I’m willing to spend, I landed on the following five possibilities:
- Buffer: $10 a month for two channels capable of scheduling for at least 30 days into the future, bumping up to $20 per month if I want to add a second user. Also, Buffer is close to my heart because of the thoughtful way they approach remote work. They’re just a great company and that counts for a lot.
- Later: $8 per month to start and connect to Twitter and LinkedIn and be able to schedule posts 30 days out (assuming posting daily). Price jumps to $25 per month to add a second user. Later seems to be heavily geared towards Instagram. That’s ok, but doesn’t resonate with my personal use case.
- Loomly: $35 per month is the entry-level price which would allow 2 users and posts 30 days out. You also get chat and email support, which may be offered by the others but which I haven’t noticed. A possible bonus, hard to say. Even at the entry-level price, Loomly looks like all I’d ever need and then some.
- POSTOPLAN: $6.90 per month. So cheap it makes you wonder what the catch is. I can’t find a catch. At that price you can add multiple users and schedule posts indefinitely into the future. Also, the reviews on G2 are excellent. I say this as humbly as possible, but POSTOPLAN needs a pricing consultant. They’re underpriced and pricing yourself too low can cause potential customers to lose confidence. If I was buying on behalf of a business the low price might scare me off, but I’m not buying for a business, I’m buying for me and I’m willing to take risks I wouldn’t take on behalf of a business.
- Zoho Social: $15 per month for the basics, jumps to $65 per month to add additional users. That jump is just a bit too rich for my blood.
For my needs, POSTOPLAN is the clear winner at this point. I was really rooting for Buffer because I really like them, and Later also seems like a competitive choice, but for my money I’m going to have to start by giving POSTOPLAN a try.